Peter Birkhäuser

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Peter Birkhäuser (born June 7, 1911 in Basel , † November 22, 1976 in Binningen ) was a Swiss painter and graphic artist .

Life

Peter Birkhäuser was born in Switzerland, where he also grew up. From 1928–1934 he trained at the Basel School of Applied Arts and then went on to do an apprenticeship with the Basel painter Niklaus Stoecklin . As a 22-year-old he had his own studio as a freelance painter and graphic artist . His admiration was then for the old masters. Using their technique, he painted the objects of concrete reality that fascinated him. He made a name for himself as a portraitist , poster painter and graphic artist.

In 1939 he married Sibylle Oeri , with whom he later had two children and who helped shape his artistic development. The political situation at the time - National Socialism and the Second World War , the associated psychological devastation - preoccupied both of them deeply. When Peter Birkhäuser got into a creative crisis in the 1940s and was urged from within to abandon the traditional way of painting, his wife introduced him to the world of thoughts of Carl Gustav Jung . Back then, Birkhäuser began psychoanalysis and embarked on the adventure of being guided by his dreams. In an interview from 1970 Peter Birkhäuser said in retrospect:

«Something thwarted me and destroyed my conscious ideals, consistently over the years, until I was so small that I gave in. And I obeyed before I understood. ... Only later, over the years, I could finally see the meaning. But this unknown in me always knew the meaning. ... I experienced a power within myself that was not me. That is religious experience. She forced me on a path that was not wanted by me, that did not meet my taste at the time. … It was a long way. But today, when I look back on the thousands of dreams and this long development and the sacrifices, I see that it was a very precious experience. " (from the brochure of the Birkhäuser-Oeri Foundation: On the work of the painter Peter Birkhäuser , 2008)

In addition to his search for new forms and content in painting, Birkhäuser continued to work successfully as a portraitist and graphic artist in the 1940s. Posters were created that are known to this day. His work has regularly received awards. Only later did he shift his focus to font graphics.

In painting, pictures emerged that clearly mark a transition. In art criticism, they were given the label Magical Realism . In 1953 he made his breakthrough to painting inner pictures with the painting The Split . From 1953 on, guided by dreams, Birkhäuser developed his own style of painting spiritual reality. An extensive work of dream images was created, which he repeatedly showed in exhibitions.

Peter Birkhäuser died in 1976 at the age of 65. The historian Kaspar Birkhäuser is his son.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1949 Helmhaus Zurich ("The Poster")
  • 1950 Salon Irène (Sauter), Basel
  • 1951 Wolfsberg Gallery, Zurich
  • 1958 (with Erhard Jacoby) Galerie Wolfsberg, Zurich
  • 1959 Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich ("Master of Poster Art")
  • 1963 Gallery Münsterberg
  • 1964 Bregenz ("Fantastic Painting")
  • 1965 Wolfsberg Gallery, Zurich
  • 1966 Gallery Münster (T. Hofmann), Bern
  • 1967 Dufour Gallery, Biel BE
  • 1967 Maerklin Gallery, Stuttgart
  • 1974 Atrium Gallery (Dürsteler), Reinach BL
  • 1974 Wolfsberg Gallery, Zurich
  • 1980 Kunsthalle Basel ("New Objectivity Unreal Reality")
  • 1981 Bibliothèque Forney (“Affichesuisses”), Paris
  • 1991 Kunstverein Binningen ("Birkhäuser versus Birkhäuser" - dream images and poster graphics), Binningen BL
  • 1993 Pauli-Jung conference, Monte Verità, Ascona
  • 2004 Upper Austrian State Museum Linz. Exhibition: Fantastic
  • 2011 Basel ("The Red Thread")

literature

  • Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser, Kaspar Birkhäuser : The red thread: painting and graphics by Peter Birkhäuser. Published by the Birkhäuser-Oeri Foundation. Daimon Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-85630-751-6 .
  • Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser: Window to Eternity: The painting by Peter Birkhäuser. A depth psychological interpretation. Verlag Stiftung für Jung'sche Psychologie, 2001, ISBN 3-908116-55-4 .
    • English translation: Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser: Windows on Eternity: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser. With an essay by Marie-Louise von Franz. Daimon Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-85630-715-8 .
  • Marie-Louise von Franz, Kaspar Birkhäuser, Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser (eds.): Light from the dark: The painting of Peter Birkhäuser - Light from the Darkness: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser (Text in German and English). Birkhäuser Verlag, 1998³, ISBN 3-7643-1190-8 / ISBN 0-8176-1190-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eva Wertenschlag Birkhäuser, Kaspar Birkhäuser Der Rote Faden. Painting and graphics by Peter-Birkhäuser , Daimon-Verlag 2013, p. 11.
  2. ↑ Eva Wertenschlag Birkhäuser, Kaspar Birkhäuser Der Rote Faden. Painting and graphics by Peter-Birkhäuser , Daimon-Verlag 2013, pp. 11–13.
  3. ↑ Herbert van Erkelens: Modern Alchemy. Number archetypes, the feminine and the Mayan calendar. Nordländer, Todtmoos-Rütte 2008, p. 81 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
personal data
SURNAME Birkhauser, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1976
Place of death Binningen